When they were young, Sam (Padalecki) and Dean Winchester's (Ackles) mother Mary (Samantha Smith) died a violent and unexplainable death, which in turn led their father, John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), to teach them skills which they might need in the search for whatever it was that took her life. Years later, while attending Stanford University, Sam is forced back into the paranormal world by his older brother, who has come to tell him that their father has mysteriously disappeared. The two travel to Jericho, California, to find him, but their search is put on hold when they discover that a ghostly Woman in White (Sarah Shahi)—the spirit of a woman who drowned her children and then killed herself—has been taking male victims. They investigate, but Dean is soon arrested for impersonating a federal agent. However, he manages to escape custody, and saves his brother from the vengeful spirit. The Woman in White is finally put to rest after the brothers force her to confront the spirits of her children. Sam later returns home, and discovers his girlfriend Jessica (Adrianne Palicki) pinned to the ceiling. He is then forced to watch as she is killed in the same supernatural manner as his mother. Jessica's death prompts him to return to the life of hunting with Dean.

After having no luck in the investigation of Jessica's death, the brothers follow instructions found in their father's journal and head to Blackwater Ridge, Lost Creek, Colorado. Posing as park rangers, they help a young woman named Haley (Gina Holden) and her younger brother Ben (Alden Ehrenreich) search for their lost older brother Tommy (Graham Wardle), who disappeared while on a camping trip. Sam and Dean soon realize that he was taken by a wendigo that has terrorized the woods since 1936. While searching, Haley and Dean are kidnapped by the creature, but Sam and Ben are able to track them to a mine. After Dean, Haley, and Tommy are freed, they kill the wendigo with a flare gun.

Taking a break from the search for their father, Sam and Dean head to Lake Manitoc in Wisconsin for a possible case. Three drownings have occurred there within a year, with the dead bodies mysteriously disappearing in the lake. The brothers soon come to believe that the spirit of a young boy haunts the lake, and learn that the local sheriff (Daniel Hugh Kelly) and the father of the latest victim accidentally caused his death when they were children. Out for revenge, the spirit targets the sheriff's daughter Andrea (Amy Acker) and mute grandson Lucas (Nico McEown). It eventually pulls Lucas into the lake, so the sheriff gives himself over to the spirit, saving his grandson.

season 2

As the season opens, the Winchesters are taken to a hospital in Memphis following a car wreck caused by one of the demon Azazel's henchmen. Though Sam (Padalecki) and his father John (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) make it out of the crash with minor injuries, a dying Dean (Ackles) is in a coma. He has an out-of-body experience, and is approached by a Reaper (Lindsey McKeon) who tries to take his soul. She reveals that if he refuses to move on, he will one day become a vengeful spirit. Meanwhile, Sam tries without success to save his brother, so John contacts Azazel (Fredric Lehne) and offers to make a deal; in exchange for saving Dean's life, he will give up his own life, his immortal soul, and the mystical Colt—a gun capable of killing anything.

After cremating their father's body, Sam and Dean refuse to discuss his death. Instead, they head back to work, and track an old message on John's phone to Harvelle's Roadhouse, a bar frequented by hunters. There they meet Ellen Harvelle (Samantha Ferris), an old friend of John's, and her daughter Jo (Alona Tal). As the bar's resident genius Ash (Chad Lindberg) attempts to analyze John's research on Azazel with his computer, the brothers investigate the murders of visitors to a traveling carnival. They discover that a Rakshasa—a demon of Hindu mythology— has been taking the form of a clown and tricking children into inviting it into their homes so that it can eat their parents. When not feeding, it takes the form of a blind knife thrower at the carnival; the brothers kill it with a brass pipe. Dean later takes out his anger at his father's death on the Impala, one of his most prized possessions.

The brothers investigate a series of decapitations and cattle mutilations in Red Lodge, Montana, and find that one of the victims was a vampire. They then run into vampire hunter Gordon Walker (Sterling K. Brown), who Ellen warns them is dangerous. Sam is later captured by a group of vampires, and their leader Lenore (Amber Benson) reveals to him that they have reformed, feeding only on cattle. After being released unharmed, Sam tries to no avail to convince his brother that the vampires should be left alone. However, when they arrive at the vampire's hideout, they find that Gordon has already captured Lenore. They try to convince Gordon not to kill her, but he cuts Sam's arm to tempt the vampire. When Lenore resists the temptation, the brothers overpower him. As Dean ties Gordon up, Sam takes Lenore to safety. Dean later admits to Sam that he was wrong about the vampires.

season 3

The season begins with brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) bracing themselves for the possibility of an apocalyptic war. They realize that hunting down the hundreds of spirits that escaped from the Devil's Gate—a doorway to Hell briefly opened at the end of the previous season—will be an enormous task. With only a year left to live—he made a demonic pact to resurrect Sam—Dean decides to live life to the fullest and exhibits a carefree attitude that troubles Sam, who is trying to find a loophole. Friend and fellow hunter Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver) informs the brothers about a supernatural sighting in Nebraska, which turns out to be the manifestations of the Seven Deadly Sins. While investigating, they meet Isaac (Peter Macon) and Tamara (Caroline Chikezie), a husband and wife team of hunters. Isaac and Tamara trail one of them to a bar, but discover that all the patrons are not their true human selves. The two are restrained, and Isaac dies after being forced to drink drain cleaner. Before the demons can target Tamara, Bobby and the Winchesters crash their car into the building. They throw the personification of Envy into the trunk, and drive away with Tamara. The hunters interrogate the demon and then exorcise it. Later that night, the other Sins track them down. During the scuffle, a mysterious blonde named Ruby (Katie Cassidy) saves Sam and kills three demons with a magic knife before departing. The rest of the Sins are exorcised. As Sam continues his research the next day, Dean reveals that a clause in his pact will end Sam's life if he tries to escape the deal.

Dean reads about a death in Cicero, Indiana where a man was pushed onto a power saw. He wants to go to Cicero so that he can visit Lisa Braeden (Cindy Sampson), a woman he knew eight years prior. He dr ops Sam off at a motel and drives to her house. He arrives during her son Ben's (Nicholas Elia) eighth birthday party. Dean suspects that he is Ben's father. Lisa denies this, and tells Dean about the saw accident. Meanwhile, Ruby visits Sam at a diner. She surprises him with her knowledge of his psychic abilities, and informs him that something happened to all of his mother's friends. She tells him that there is a job in town. Moments later, Dean calls Sam and reveals that four other "accidents" occurred in Lisa's neighborhood. As Dean helps Ben deal with bullies, Sam investigates one of the accidents—a man fell off a ladder—and notices the child is behaving oddly. A mark on the mother's neck also catches his attention. Later, Sam researches changelings. He suspects that the creatures have replaced the local children, killed the fathers, and are feeding on the mothers. The brothers discover the mother changeling is using a vacant house as her base. Inside, they find Ben, the other children, and the local realtor in cages. The mother changeling, in the form of the realtor, attacks them. Sam retaliates with a flamethrower, and all the changelings explode in flames upon her death. The real children are returned, and Dean explains everything to Lisa. She thanks him. Dean reluctantly turns down an offer to stay, telling her that it is not his life. Elsewhere, Sam confirms to Ruby that all of his mother's friends were killed. She reveals herself as a demon, but claims that she wants to help him.

Kubrick (Michael Massee) visits fellow hunter Gordon Walker (Sterling K. Brown) in prison, and is told that Sam must die due to his inhuman nature. Elsewhere, the brothers are alerted to a break-in at one of their father's storage rooms in Buffalo, New York, where thieves stole a rabbit's foot. Sam and Dean use security footage to track them down and retrieve the item. However, Bobby informs them that the foot is cursed. Anyone who touches it—Sam already has—is granted good luck, but will die within a week if the foot is lost. As Bobby researches a method to destroy it, Sam begins having good luck. Later they are eating, and a waitress spills coffee on Sam to distract him and steals the foot. Sam begins to have bad luck, so they interrogate one of the thieves—the other who touched the foot has since died—and they learn about the woman who hired them, Bela Talbot (Lauren Cohan). Bobby knows of her and how she steals supernatural items for profit, and gives them a lead on her location. Dean retrieves the foot from Bela's flat in Queens, but Sam's bad luck helps Kubrick and another hunter track him down. They prepare to kill Sam, but Dean arrives in time and uses the good luck of the rabbit's foot to incapacitate them with a pen and TV remote. Bobby finds a ritual to break the curse, but Bela interrupts before its completion. She demands the foot, and shoots Sam in the shoulder to display her ruthlessness. Dean tricks her into becoming cursed, forcing her to allow the foots destruction. At the end of the story, Kubrick visits Gordon in prison again. Believing the coincidences that helped him to locate Sam were caused by God, he agrees to help Gordon break out of prison.

season 4

Four months after being dragged to Hell by Lilith's minions, Dean inexplicably wakes up, buried underground in a coffin. He escapes his underground confinement and tries to contact Bobby, when he's suddenly ambushed by an unknown entity. He is reunited with Sam, who is just as surprised at Dean's resurrection as he himself. Together with Bobby, the Winchester brothers find a psychic, Pamela Barnes, to help them discover what pulled Dean out of Hell. Pamela does find out the name of the being, Castiel, but, disregarding psychic warnings, the sight of seeing Castiel burns her eyes out, resulting in her becoming permanently blind. It is also revealed that Sam's psychic abilities have advanced greatly as he now is able to exorcise demons. He also seems to be frequently meeting with Ruby, who has possessed a new host. Sick of being toyed with, Dean decides to summon the thing together with Bobby in order to find out what it wants and prepares a ritual. The ritual succeeds and Castiel appears, an angel of the Lord. He explains that he is responsible for dragging Dean out of Hell and, when Dean asks why he of all people would be worthy of being saved, that God has work for him to do.

Bobby asks the Winchester boys for help when fellow hunters of his are being killed off one by one in a most gruesome way. Sam is haunted by FBI Agent Henrickson who died in the explosion caused by Lilith, accusing Sam of failing him. Together with Bobby they find out that they're being haunted by the spirits of the people they couldn't save, which is called "The Rising of the Witnesses", a sign of the upcoming Apocalypse. Meg Masters (Nicki Aycox) and two twin girls also appear and haunt Dean, Sam and Bobby. The three find a spell to put the Witnesses to rest, but have to leave the panic room they are hiding in to do it. As Sam and Dean hold off the spirits, Bobby performs the spell, but Meg tries to kill him. Dean manages to complete the spell and the Witnesses are put to rest. Later, Castiel appears to Dean in a dream and reveals that "The Rising of the Witnesses" is one of many seals, which are being broken by Lilith in order to bring on the Apocalypse, in which Lucifer will walk the earth.

Sam sneaks out of the apartment once again to meet with Ruby. When Castiel appears beside Dean's bed, he transports Dean back in time to the '70s in Lawrence, Kansas. There, he meets a younger John Winchester (Matt Cohen) and Mary Campbell (Amy Gumenick). This family reuni on gets bigger when Dean meets his and Sam's grandfather (Mitch Pileggi), who is a hunter and so is his mother. However, there is more to this than Dean had imagined. He discovers Mary was a hunter and had made a desperate deal with Azazel that resulted in his appearance the night she died. There are several allusions to "Back to the Future" in this episode.

season 5

Lucifer's prison has been opened by Sam's successful attempt to kill Lilith. As the gate to Hell fully opens, the Winchester brothers are rescued by an unknown force and teleported into a plane, watching in horror the start of the Apocalypse. In an encounter with the prophet Chuck it is revealed that Castiel was blown to pieces by an archangel. When they try to figure out what to do next, they are attacked by their old enemy Meg and a possessed Bobby. The brothers learn that there is a weapon strong enough to defeat the Devil — Michael's Sword. They set off to find it, but instead burst upon Zachariah, who reveals that Dean is in fact Michael's Sword, the human vessel of the Archangel Michael. However, he refuses to provide his mind and body for the angels' plans even when Zachariah threatens to kill Sam and Bobby. As Zachariah begins to torture Sam and Dean, Castiel, miraculously revived, appears and tells him to leave. Meanwhile, Lucifer is trying to convince his own vessel, a man whose family has been slaughtered by a killer, to let him take over his body so he can face God and seek justice.

Bobby is still in the hospital and quite bitter about being in a wheelchair. When Castiel arrives, Bobby orders him to heal him, but Castiel says he's been cut off from Heaven. He tells Dean that he wants to find God, the only one who can defeat Lucifer. Castiel borrows Dean's pendant, which has the ability to indicate God's presence by glowing brightly. Suddenly, Bobby receives a frantic call from his hunter friend Rufus, who is in a town swarming with demons. Sam and Dean go to the town and can't find Rufus, but instead find Ellen Harvelle. She and Jo have been hunting together and Jo has disappeared like Rufus. When they do find Jo and Rufus, they appear to be possessed by demons—and strangely, they seem to think Sam, Dean and the others are also possessed. In fact, the demons are no demons at all, but hallucinations brought about by War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Sam and Dean hunt him down and cut off his ring finger, because his ring controls the hallucinations. In the end, Sam tells Dean he thinks that they should go their separate ways, and so they part.

Not sure he trusts himself anymore, Sam decides to give up hunting and live a "normal" life. At night, his dead girlfriend Jessica visits him and tells him that people can never change despite their efforts. Dean, intent on stopping the Apocalypse, continues hunting on his own and teams up with Castiel to find the Archangel Raphael, as Castiel believes Raphael knows God’s location. They find Raphael's vessel and lure him out, but are no closer to finding God's location. Raphael even claims that God is dead. After fighting off fellow hunters who wanted him to drink demon blood in order to exorcise some demons, Sam gets another late-night visit from Jessica, who turns out to be Lucifer disguising himself as Sam's deceased girlfriend all along. He says that Nick's body was just Plan B, and that his true vessel is supposed to be Sam. He is convinced that eventually, without any trickery or lies, Sam will agree to be his vessel, although Sam adamantly disagrees.

season 6

Dean lives with Lisa and her son Ben, and has given up hunting for a year after Sam jumped into Lucifer's Cage. Mysterious occurrences appear in Dean's neighbourhood and he is forced back into the world of the supernatural. Sam rescues Dean and reveals he escaped from Hell around the time Dean started living with Lisa, and introduces Dean to family members he never even knew existed: the Campbells; his mother's cousins, hunters led by none other than their grandfather Samuel. Dean leaves Lisa and Ben with Bobby so he and Sam can kill the Djinn tormenting the people close to Dean. In the end Dean decides to live with Lisa and Ben, and tells Sam to keep in touch.

Sam investigates a case about missing babies whose parents are being mysteriously murdered. At one of the crime scenes, he discovers a baby that was left behind and calls Dean for help. Reluctant to leave Lisa and Ben, Dean finally agrees to meet Sam and surprises his brother with how parental he has become. The brothers take the baby (revealed to be a shape-shifter) to Samuel, who decides to raise it as a hunter, which infuriates Dean. However, before they can decide the baby's future, a shape-shifter breaks in and kidnaps the baby. The shape-shifter was apparently the father of all shape-shifters (the alpha), and was much stronger than the others. Samuel secretly talks to someone on the phone promising he'll capture the alpha. After losing the baby, Dean returns to Lisa, and tells her that he is not sure whether he should stay to protect her and Ben, or go to make sure nothing happens to them. Lisa tells Dean to leave, but just come back home whenever he can.

Sam and Dean call Castiel for help when they investigate a case about several dead police officers who seem to have been killed by the plagues of Egypt. Castiel confirms the staff of Moses was used to kill the cops and tells Sam and Dean that Heaven is in a state of chaos and civil war between angels and God's weapons have been stolen. The three find that the officers were involved in the shooting of a young man, whose brother has the staff, which he got from an angel in exchange for his soul. Castiel deduces that the angel responsible, Balthazar (guest star Sebastian Roché), has split the staff into pieces to be able to buy more souls. When Castiel confronts Balthazar in his residence, Balthazar explains he deserted Heaven and thanks Castiel for creating the current situation. Raphael arrives and Balthazar leaves Castiel to deal with the mess. Before Castiel is killed by Raphael, Balthazar returns and uses what appears to be a white crystal to disintegrate Raphael's host into salt (apparently used on Lot's wife when she looked back at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah). Dean uses holy fire to trap Balthazar and force him to return Aaron's soul. Castiel releases Balthazar for repaying his rescue and both angels depart with no explanation to the brothers. Later, Dean questions Sam on his recent actions and thinks something's different with him.

season 7

Castiel does not kill Sam, Dean and Bobby, but warns them not to interfere in his business. Assuming his new role as God, Castiel sets out to right some of the wrongs in the world. The Winchesters summon Crowley in exchange of a spell to bind Death, they summon him but Death is not pleased, Dean orders him to stop Castiel, but the former angel is one step ahead of them, leaving Dean to face an angry Death, while Sam struggles to deal with the broken wall in his mind due to memories in the cage. Castiel appears to them, confronting the brothers and telling them to stand down. Death tells Castiel that consuming every soul in Purgatory isn't his only problem, Death confides that he also consumed one of God's earliest creations, "The Leviathans" - the first beasts. Castiel breaks the binding spell due to the betrayal of Dean when he tells Death to reap him. Eventually, Castiel disappears, Death tells the brothers that he warned them about Purgatory, and he will help them by persuading Castiel to return every soul back to Purgatory. Death then leaves. Castiel awakens in a room full of massacred individuals and believes he is too weak and finds he cannot control the powers of the supernatural souls, and goes to the brothers for help; they re-open the door and although they send most of the souls back into Purgatory, the Leviathans remain. The beasts take over Castiel's body and claim to have killed him. Meanwhile, Sam has a vision of Lucifer, who tells Sam that he didn't truly escape, and is still in the cage -- that this is just his own ultimate torture. Sam disappears, leaving Dean and Bobby to face the new threat on their own. The Leviathans confront Dean and Bobby, telling them that they will have fun, their intentions on Earth as yet unknown.

After throwing around Dean and Bobby, the Leviathans begin to bleed and stagger around, seemingly dying. Dean realizes that the beasts cannot remain within Castiel's body without destroying it. As a result, the Leviathans disperse into the local water supply nearby. Possessing different people and establishing a base at Sioux Falls General to maintain a food supply, the Leviathans hint at further plans and the importance of maintaining discretion to prevent unwanted attention. While Sam, Bobby and Dean attempt to learn of the Leviathans whereabouts, Sam continues to be tortured by visions of Lucifer, slowly believing that the world he sees is not a true reality. This eventually leads to Sam driving off by himself in what could have led to suicide, save for Dean's timely appearance and support in helping Sam overcome his visions through distinguishing the pain of the world from the tortures of Hell. Visions under control, the brothers head to Bobby's. Bobby, in the meantime, was investigating Sioux Falls General at the call of Sheriff Jody Mills, and discovers that the Leviathans are in the hospital. When the brothers arrive at Bobby's house, they find it burnt up, and are confronted by one of the Leviathans, possessing a man named Edgar. Though the brothers manage to crush Edgar under a car, Dean's leg is broken in the process, and Sam is severely wounded after being struck across the head by a pipe. While being driven in an ambulance, both brothers receive a shock: Sam is still seeing Lucifer and starts to seize, and Dean learns that the ambulance is taking them to Sioux Falls General.

After being sprung from Sioux Falls General by a perfectly alive Bobby, Dean and Sam join him and lay low for three weeks while Dean's broken leg heals. In that time, Sam has still suffered hallucinations, but has kept them quiet. While collecting food, Sam discovers the return of an unknown serial killer and takes off on his own to find her. In truth, the killer is a Kitsune, a monster who removes the pituitary gland in the brain as nourishment. Sam eventually tracks down the monster as an old acquaintance, Amy (Jewel Staite), who years ago he had a crush on while hunting Amy's mother. When Sam confronts Amy on the deaths, she reveals that she has a son who she cares for, and who needed fresh meat in order to survive an illness brought on by harvesting dead bodies. As Amy had helped protect and defend Sam, even killing her own mother, Sam lets her go. Dean manages to catch up to Sam and get the truth to his disappearance, and urges Sam to find Amy and kill her. Sam refuses, and acknowledges Dean has been treating him like a hand grenade, and emphasizing that he is managing his hallucinations and atoning for his past actions. Dean agrees to stop badgering him, but later tracks and kills Amy in front of her son, stating that no matter what changes a person goes through, they are still the same person and notwithstanding Amy would have killed humans in the future. Dean doesn't kill the son who hasn't killed anyone, but warns that if the son kills anyone, he will. The son promises that the only person he will kill is Dean. Throughout, the Leviathans are shown to maintain an eye on the various rocker aliases of the brothers, using the aliases to catch up to them.

Season 8: 2012–2013

On May 3, 2012 The CW renewed Supernatural for an eighth season. Sera Gamble will step down as ex ecutive producer and showrunner. Jeremy Carver will take her place as of season eight. It will air on Wednesdays at 9/8c on the CW. Series star Jensen Ackles will direct first episode to be produced for this season but third to air. . The season will contain 23 episodes.